Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

A delicious, spicy Thai curry soup, made with coconut milk and lots of fresh herbs and spices. Yummy mushrooms and carrots mean that this will qualify as my ARF/5-a-day submission to Sweetnicks' roundup this week!

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup
3 Tbsp EVOO
1 onion, cut in half and then sliced into thin wedges to make strips about 2" long
2 c mushrooms, halved or quartered (depending on size)
1 carrot, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
3 chicken cutlets, sliced into 1" strips
1-2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1-2 tsp red Thai curry paste
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp fish sauce (available in Asian foods aisle of your grocery store)
1 can coconut milk
6 c chicken stock
1/2 pkg maifun (rice noodles, available in Asian foods aisle)
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/4 c chopped basil
4-5 green onions, sliced lengthwise to make long strips (green parts only)
salt & pepper

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the onions and mushrooms until mushrooms begin to brown and onions are soft and translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Add the carrots and the chicken strips, then season with salt and pepper. Go a little easier on the salt than you normally would, as you'll be adding fish sauce later and that's pretty darn salty. When the chicken strips are almost opaque on all sides (it will NOT be cooked through), add the ginger, curry paste, brown sugar and fish sauce; stir to combine well. Then add the coconut milk and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and then add the maifun (break it up a bit before adding it or you'll have unmanageably long noodles to deal with when serving/eating). Throw in the cilantro, basil and green onions and cook for another couple of minutes, until the noodles are tender.

This soup is extremely flavorful and pretty healthy (as long as you don't think too much about the sodium content). It's even better the next day, when the flavors have all been sitting together overnight.